Anti-nuclear activists protest in Europe

The anti-nuclear movement intensifies in Europe. Protests continue in Bahrain despite the declaration of a state of emergency. And an American hiker shares his journey along the Appalachian Trail online.

Anti-nuclear activists protest in Europe

On Saturday, tens of thousands of people formed a 45 kilometer human chain in the Stuttgart region, to denounce Germany’s energy policy. The operation was organized by environmental activists and illustrates the mass anti-nuclear campaigning that has been taking place over the past few days, following the nuclear accident in Japan caused by the devastating earthquake that ravaged the country.

As we can see in these images, demonstrations took place across Germany on Monday night. An anti-nuclear NGO organized the rallies via their web site, demonstrations which reportedly drew over 110 000 people across the country. Spurred on by their success, the organizers are now calling for further action on the 21st March.

In addition to these rallies, an online petition, which has already gathered over 13 000 signatures has also been set up in Germany. The document indicates the potential dangers of nuclear energy and asks the authorities to turn to cleaner energy sources as quickly as possible.

And it is not only the people of Germany who are denouncing the potential threats of nuclear power. In France, hundreds of people took part in demonstrations in Paris and Cadarache, to urge the authorities to abandon nuclear energy as quickly as possible.

Some, like this French video blogger, are already considering the effects the Japanese nuclear accident could have on Europe. He presents a tool which, in his opinion, it an essential safety precaution: it measures radiation levels. He says that this tool will provide him with real time information so he can take the necessary measures if there are high levels of radiation in his area.

Gulf troops enter Bahrain

Armored troops from Saudi Arabia have rolled into Bahrain where a three month state of emergency has been declared. Gulf troops deployed to Manama at the invitation of the Sunni ruled government to help put down unrest led by the Shiite majority.

Tensions are at an all-time high and repression has intensified in recent days. As these amateur videos demonstrate, security forces intervened on Sunday to disperse protesters gathered around the financial district in the capital Manama, giving rise to violent clashes.

Clashes also broke out at Bahrain University where students, who as we see in this video had barricaded themselves in the buildings, say they were attacked by pro-government supporters who they suspect were plain clothed security forces.

But the opposition does not seem ready to give in and the uprising continues, on Facebook in particular where protesters say they will not give up the fight.

But one month on from the start of the protest movement, some citizens appear to have grown weary of the unrest. People like Rasha Yousif who we see here condemning the barricades set up by protesters.

And web users are running an online campaign called « Unite Bahrain ». This music video is part of the campaign and is calling for an end to violence and division.

Avoid traffic jams with Google Maps

Last week, Google upgraded its popular online mapping service, Google Maps, so that drivers can be provided with various route suggestions, including estimated journey times and colour coding for current traffic conditions. This is a free service which will compete with traditional GPS technology, but for the time being it is only available in Europe and North America.

FrenchLeaks

The success of Wikileaks, the site which specializes in releasing sensitive documents, continues to inspire, and French online newspaper Mediapart has launched a site called Frenchleaks, to publish documents of public interest concerning France and Europe. The site is asking web users to get involved by contributing documents which will be published online once the information has been verified by journalists.

Video of the day

During a six month period, Kevin Gallagher followed the 3 500 kilometer long Appalachian Trail in the eastern United States. It is now possible to see a condensed version of his journey in a little over 4 minutes with this photomontage called “Green Tunnel”. It is made up of 4 000 shots he took during his walks along the nature trail. 30